The stories explore what Devo Manc might be and mean for the city. I met with a range of academics working on Devo Manc, as well as other residents and campaigners in Manchester. I asked each of them: If Devo Manc was an animal, what would it be? Their answers inspired three stories: The Mini-Pig; The Giraffe and The Whale (released next week).

This work was commissioned by Manchester Urban Institute and funded by The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account.

From the Gates of Hell to a grand Victorian railway hotel, take a tour of local places through the site-specific short stories of critically acclaimed and award-winning writers Elizabeth Baines, Sarah Butler, Sarah-Clare Conlon, David Gaffney, Nicholas Royle and Adrian Slatcher, set against a backdrop of archive film and photography. Supported by Arts Council England.

As part of Unearthing The Elephant, a project with artists Eva Sajovic and Rebecca Davies, building on a decade of work in Elephant and Castle, we are hosting an open discussion with an invited panel to discuss ethics, tactics and place-specificity in artistic practice, with particular reference to Elephant and Castle and its labelling as an ‘opportunity area’. We will be asking what kinds of conversations and spaces can artistic projects create at a time and place of extreme change? And what are the ethical implications of working with specific places?

I was one of eight writers commission by the Centre For New Writing at Leicester University to create new work inspired by the post-industrial lives of buildings in Glossop and Leicester. I explored the history and current uses of the Howard Town Mills in Glossop. My five flash fictions are available to read online.